Exciting news in these Covid Lockdown times is that Tintswalo Atlantic, at the foot of Chapman’s Peak and offering the best restaurant view in Cape Town, is reopening its restaurant tomorrow 29 July, now named Tintswalo Kitchen, specifically focusing on the local market, but serving its in-house hotel guests too. Continue reading →
Wednesday 8 July 2020, Day 38 of Level 3, after 66 days of Levels 5 and 4 😷
Corona Gratitude 🙏
#Grateful for a most wonderful day, all the way through, with much storytelling; for amazing weather at 21C, and even warmer at 23C as I drove home now from Hout Bay, with a strong Bergwind before tomorrow’s downpour; for a tightly scheduled morning, my writing followed by a quick walk through Camps Bay and the purchase of cat treats at Absolute Pets; for buying more plants and seeds at LandsCape Art Garden Centre, including carrots, peas, and radish, getting brave now; for meeting Jenny Stephens and her friend Linda French, taking a Waterfront Granger Bay walk with coffee/tea at The Grand on the Beach; a wonderful hour and a bit in the sun, laughing at each other’s stories and each of us learning from another; my visit to the dentist being a good thing, despite no more toothache, the X-ray showing a serious abscess, which had to be taken care off, and the tooth ultimately needing a crown; for a fabulous sunset; for a good Discovery Vitality Gameboard play; for the most enjoyable, fun, funny, mouthwatering dinner with my Danish friends and Melanie Davidow at Quentin at Oakhurst Barn in Hout Bay, my first visit here, leaving for home after midnight; and for being happy and healthy. 🙏💙 Continue reading →
Sunday 5 July 2020, Day 35 of Level 3 after 66 days at Levels 5 and 4 😷
Corona Gratitude 🙏
#Grateful for a typical Cape Town day, at least two seasons in one day, with light rain most of this morning and lovely sunshine late this afternoon; for it being pleasant to go for a walk at lunchtime, combining Camps Bay with a Bakoven walk in one go; for the support I received about the cribbing of my Restaurant Sit-Down list; for the invitation by Juandre to enjoy a Jasmine tea at Bootlegger Bakoven; for a day without any toothache or any other pain, almost 24 hours without a painkiller ❤️❤️❤️; for feeling on top of the world after 9,5 hours sleep, a record for me, clearly what I needed; for visiting DARG in Hout Bay, from which I adopted Minsky, to fetch a tablet for her; for an hour spent at my ‘third home’ La Parada, my home of dancing, but there was none of that today; for shopping at Woolworths in Hout Bay, buying ingredients for a soup; for not being stopped at a massive roadblock in Hout Bay, passing through it in both directions 🙏; for a lovely sunset; for loving the Beethoven and Mozart played by flautists Sir James and Lady Galway in Zürich with Daniel Hope at Hope @ Home on Tour, lovely happy lively music which reflects how I feel today compared to yesterday, and enjoying it with my cousin Ulrike in two different countries and hemispheres; for being requested by two restaurant owners to assist them in two issues affecting our local restaurant industry; and for being happy and healthy 🙏💙
On my walk I saw Sunset Sessions having put out tables and chairs, to create sit-down opportunities. I almost literally bumped into Howard in Bakoven, coming around the same corner on Beta Road from different directions. Juandre from Bootlegger not only invited me to tea but also helped me to look at the Cape Town Eats Facebook Group now that I have been deleted from it…. the Group owner having cribbed from my Sit-Down Restaurant list on my Blog without permission.
What a transformation at La Parada for a Sunday afternoon, few cars outside, all tables set up on ‘our’ dance floor of days gone by but no dancing allowed, and DJ Rene Tanguy playing there, seemingly still angry with me about the honesty of my feedback about the music he plays these days, not making eye contact or acknowledgimg my presence there at all. What was weird was that he turned his back on his ‘audience’, the diners! But the staff was lovely, and having an appetite for the first time in two days, I ordered fried calamari. Mmmmmm 💙
I have some writing to do for one of the restaurant owners this evening, he going to court tomorrow on behalf of the restaurant industry.
I’m very happy with my pot of home-made vegetable soup.
So much 💙💙💙💙 in the sky over Camps Bay today.
SA Corona Status : 196750 cases 3199 deaths 😷😢
FitBit 12000 steps 9 km 👣
Lovemylife ❤️
I posted a separate post about plagiarism from parts of my Blogposts on Facebook without permission or credit, this having happened twice in the past month, which created a lively discussion. The latest perpetrator is Pamela McOnie of Cape Town Eats, cribbing the Atlantic Seaboard section of my list of Sit-Down restaurants that have reopened:
‘Dear Friends
It’s the second time in a month that a section of one of two of my Blogposts, being lists of Restaurant closures and Reopened Restaurants, has been cribbed and shared without permission or credit to the source.
Even worse is that the Admin of the Sea Point Community Group gave permission to one of the offenders to do so. When I questioned him on this, this was his reply:
‘Chris Von Ulmenstein when something gets posted on this group, it becomes public information. Admin has the right to allow any member to copy, paste and share if they deem fit to do so. Since when do you own the sole rights to publish which Restaurants are open for business in Cape Town, and specifically the Sea Point and Atlantic Seaboard area?’
Surely a Facebook Group Admin does not own my content and cannot give a third party permission to commit what is outright plagiarism? 😱😢😡‘
The Corona Virus Lockdown (Level 5), announced by our President Cyril Ramaphosa earlier to commence on 27 March and to continue until 16 April, subsequently extended to 30 April, lowered to Level 4 from 1 May, and lowered to Level 3 from 1 June, is an unprecedented event in my lifetime. I am posting my daily Facebook post to journal this Corona Lockdown Journey, perhaps to serve as material for a future Book.
Chris von Ulmenstein, WhaleTales Blog: www.chrisvonulmenstein.com/blog Tel +27 082 55 11 323 Twitter:@Ulmenstein Facebook: Chris von Ulmenstein Instagram: @Chrissy_Ulmenstein
I was invited by journalist Andrew Thompson of UK-based Culture Trip to submit an article about the Top 10 Things to do and see in Camps Bay in Cape Town. This is what I wrote just prior to the Corona Virus Lockdown: